Green ideas on Earth Day

The latest hotspot in town is eco-friendly

April 25, 2010 04:05 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 08:44 pm IST

THE GRAND LOOK View of the hotel from outside. Photos: Serish Nansetti

THE GRAND LOOK View of the hotel from outside. Photos: Serish Nansetti

Drive on the Necklace Road in the evening and you get to see the newest sparkler in Hyderabad on the other side of the Husainsagar Lake. It appears like a trapezium awash in brilliant colours in one angle and then appears like a yacht from a different angle.

Imagine a day when the Necklace Road station is connected to the airport then you can directly wheel in your luggage into

The Park, the first seven-star hotel in Hyderabad. The lobby is not at the entrance but on the third floor. Designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill (it also designed the Burj Khalifa) the Park has an all glass facade, sheated by 6,200 panels of composite aluminium. The result:

The park turns into a green building that uses .8 watts per sft as the glass lets in the light and the aluminum bounces off the heat. The hotel brims with green ideas. The lift automatically uses lower energy when fewer people use and ramps up the power when more people get in.

Not just the environment, Priya Paul of the Apeejay group who was involved right from the beginning till now, has incorporated cultural features she saw as defining the city. That is the reason for the presence of Kalamkari artefacts and motifs from tholubommalata in the hotel. While the rooms have a canvas with tholubommalata motif, one of the lounges in the lobby has a ceiling covered with Kalamkari work.

Outside the lobby on the third floor is the swimming pool that blends into the infinity of the Hussainsagar Lake. The horizon blending sight is a delight makes you wonder where the water is disappearing as you listen to the recessed all-weather Bose speakers pumping in the music.

The Rs. 340 crore Park has 270 rooms and plans are on anvil for a luxury retail mall beside the melange of restaurants and watering holes.

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